


Flashes of Moonlight

by FantasyBard



Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2020-10-14 23:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20608835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasyBard/pseuds/FantasyBard
Summary: Eternity; it’s a small enough word in any language. Yet, it’s consequences can be vast if not taken seriously.For vampires, the matter of eternity is not a matter to be taken lightly, especially when it comes to who you spend it with. For one couple living in Los Angeles, Josef Koston and Karlie Dashwood, this question is one which has been a guiding force ever since their first meeting.Navigating the challenges of everyday life as a vampire without the pesky interference of humanity is difficult enough. When one adds marriage to the mix, it can be even crazier. This is the story of how to make an immortal, vampire marriage succeed despite the odds.A reimagining of the classic TV series, Moonlight. Asking one simple question: what if Josef had succeeded in turning Sarah?





	1. No Such Thing as Vampires: I

**Author's Note:**

> I: No Such Thing as Vampire  
For most vampires, myth is a convenient shield to the truth of their existence. Yet, sometimes, an immortal vampire crosses paths with a mortal human, and the balance becomes upset. A mysterious murder in Los Angeles in the middle of the night; a chance meeting on a train platform in New York decades in the past. It can happen anywhere, anytime. There is only one constant: for both vampire and human, life will never again be the same.

Mick’s POV

_ It’s difficult to make a marriage work under the best circumstances. Add immortality and vampirism to the mix, and you have a recipe for potential disaster, rather than a happy, fairy-tale ending. I’m un-living proof of this. But every so often, you come across a couple who’s made it work despite the odds. _

Mick wasn’t exactly surprised to see Karlie waiting for him as he pulled up to Josef’s palatial Hollywood Hills mansion. The sun was starting to set over the valley, which meant that the immortal inhabitants of the mansion were stirring, though he suspected that wasn’t the only reason she was on the lookout for him. 

Karlie greeted Mick with her customary warm smile. “Mick, I’m so glad to see you.” She said, making no attempt to hide her relief.

Mick came up the steps, returning Karlie’s smile. “Let me guess, Josef’s been driving you insane?” He could feel more than a little sympathy for what she must have been going through in the last 24 hours. 

Karlie shook her head. “Is there a time when he’s not driving me insane? Unfortunately, he’s one step beyond insane today. I take it that’s why you’re here?”

“I figured I would come over before Josef started harassing me with phone calls.” He said, as they headed into the mansion. 

“When it comes to his paranoia, Josef doesn’t listen to anyone. He’s going to need to have some proof that the threat has been neutralized before he starts to calm down.”

Mick’s POV

_ Karlie Dashwood: high-end fashion designer and wife of one of the most difficult vampires to live with I’ve ever encountered. The most supernatural thing about her is patience. Being married to Josef means that infinite patience is a skill which she constantly has to practice. _

As they were approaching one of the sitting rooms, Mick eventually caught Josef’s scent and heard his voice. Though he couldn’t make out every word just yet, he sounded more irate than usual. He looked over at Karlie. “Someone picked a very bad day to try and negotiate Josef down a few million on one of his international deals.” She answered his silent question. 

They could see Josef now, talking animatedly on his phone. “You don’t get to change the rules of the game after the game has started.” He was telling the person on the other end of the line. “That goes for your silent, South American partners, too.”

Without missing a word of the conversation, he lifted the phone away from his ear and spoke to Mick in greeting. “Hey, buddy, let me get rid of this guy.”

He didn’t say anything to Karlie, but he didn’t really need to. The glances which they exchanged were more than enough to convince even the most casual observer of the connection between the vampire couple.

_ Mick’s POV _

_ My best friend, Josef, one of the oldest vampires in LA; living, well, unliving proof that paranoia never goes out of style. _

They followed Josef into the sitting room, which was awash in the orange glow from the setting sun over the valley beyond. Josef paid no attention to the beautiful view, the conversation taking up all his attention, not to mention grating in his already thin line of patience. “Any default and I would not be sleeping so snugly if I were you.” Turning back to the two of them, he whispered in exasperation. “These people are unbelievable, no integrity.”

Karlie shot him a slightly raised eyebrow, as she sat down gracefully on the sofa. Josef wasn’t always the most scrupulous when it came to his business practices. To hear him complain of the same thing in something else was quite amusing.

Josef probably wouldn’t have paused to listen to this personal critique. He was far to busy menacing the person on the other line. “Oh, you don’t like veiled threats?” Josef’s voice dropped to a dark, menacing tone. “You screw me, and I will personally come down there and cut your heart out, okay?” Again, he looked back at Karlie and Mick. “It’s the only thing they understand.”

Josef’s not so subtle warning seemed to get the message across to his listener. Judging from what Mick was hearing, he was now more than to see the deal from Josef’s point of view. “Yeah, that sounds good. My best to the family.”

On that ironic farewell, Josef abruptly hung up, and turned his full attention to them. “You know, Josef, you should really consider teaching a course in business communications. You’re such a natural at setting people at ease.”

“It’s a gift I’ve perfected over may centuries.” said Josef, before looking over at Mick, who was sitting alongside Karlie. “You look good. You been working out. A little, huh?” He dropped the subject almost immediately. He hadn’t called Mick out here to discuss his health and well-being. Looking out the floor-length windows to the valley beyond, he inquired casually, “Oh, Have you seen this terrible thing in West Hollywood? ‘Vampire-Slaying Rocks LA?’”

Of course, Mick had seen it. He had been there, even if he hadn’t gotten a good look at the body. Beth Turner’s subsequent report of the tell-tale bite marks on the body had caused other media sources to have a field day. 

“I know, it doesn’t look good for us.” Mick admitted. It wasn’t a full-blown exposure, but if a vampire in the city was starting to become creative in it’s hunting, then that could create a problem for the whole tribe. 

Josef knew the same thing, but he was not one to look calmly at a situation of this nature. He much preferred to leap straight to paranoia. “It’s a threat to our secrecy.” He was saying, turning back to them. “What is this? The 1720’s? We’ve discrete. We don’t leave bodies lying around.”

Mick looked over at Karlie, who was shaking her head in mild exasperation. It was clear that she had heard this speech, or variations of it, at least a dozen times in the course of the last day. 

Josef continued his rant, obvious to Karlie’s reaction. “Now, we have to be extra vigilant. We live in an age of fingerprint scans, genome mapping…”

“Josef.” Mick cut in, “Relax.”

“I am relaxed.” Josef snapped, “This is relaxed.”

“Yes, you’re so relaxed that if you were human right now, you would be spraining them.” said Karlie, more than a little fed up. 

“She’s got a point, Josef.” said Mick, “You’re not helping anyone by blowing this out of proportion.” 

Josef beamed them an annoyed glare. “Need I point out that you, Mick are only ninety, and you, Karlie, are only seventy. Neither of you have ever been chased by a torch-bearing mob, hungry!”

“And considering how common torch bearing mobs are nowadays, we’ll certainly see a few of those popping up in the next few days, won’t we?” Karlie quipped. 

Josef huffed. “I’m so glad that you have such faith in my leadership skills, Karlie. We’re on the verge of a crisis and here you are, cracking jokes about my many years of experience.”

Karlie rolled her eyes and got to her feet. “Josef, Susan will be here in a few moments to get my final approval on her designs. Do us both a favor and take advantage of her presence before you become even more delusional.”

Mick was observing this exchange with an amused grin. He had seen this play out between Josef and Karlie countless times over the years. Each time only convinced him even more of how perfectly suited the two were for each other, and at this point, how impossible it would be to imagine the one without the other. 

_ Mick’s POV _

_ I've seen a lot of married couples in my existence. Most of the time, one of them is on the receiving end of either a restraining order or a pending divorce. I’ve seen the dregs of married life. Josef and Karlie are pretty much the opposite of that. Even after being married for nearly fifty years, they have a connection which runs deeper than almost anyone else I’ve ever met. I’d be lying if I said it’s probably the only thing that Josef has which I can envy.  _

Josef seemed on the verge of a clever retort, when a young, attractive Asian woman walked into the room. Under one arm, she was carrying a leather-bound portfolio. 

When Karlie saw her, she brightened considerably, obviously grateful to have any reason for a change of subject. “Ah, Susan. Right on time. How are the final designs coming?”

Susan returned the smile, as she held out the portfolio to Karlie, “I think they’re ready, Karlie. I just need your final approval.”

As the two were conferring on the designs Susan had been working on, Josef turned to Mick and asked. “Oh, would you care for a liquid refreshment?”

Mick knew his friend was being polite, but he wasn’t interested. “No, thank you.”

Susan, hearing the unspoken invitation, left Karlie’s side and came up to Josef, holding up her arm to him. She wasn’t there to simply discuss things with her employers; she was also one of Josef’s regularly scheduled donors. Freshies, as they were called in the vampire community, were willing donors of blood. In the case of Josef and Karlie, a whole group of freshies lived in the mansion, catering to the vampire couple in exchange for generous compensation, along with opportunities within both of Josef and Karlie’s companies. For all intents and purposes, it was more than a fair exchange. 

“Are you sure?” Josef asked, “She’s delicious. ‘82 was a good year.”

“We lost the Superbowl in ‘82, remember?” said Mick, as he got up, “Lost a million bucks on Cincinnati that year.”

“Which you lost to me, I might add.” piped up Karlie, who was still looking through the portfolio.

“Yes, except for that, and thank you for bringing up such a painful subject.” Josef muttered. 

“Imagine, the one time we bring her to the Bowl, and she has to get lucky.” said Mick, grinning over at Karlie. “That’s probably why we’ve never invited me back.”

Mick was ready to leave, but Josef stopped him, with the usual warning. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you can exist on that retail, store-bought blood forever.”

“I get by,” said Mick. 

“Yeah, for now,” said Josef, “But sooner or later, your inner vampire is going to demand to be fed, and then what?”

This exchange was hardly new between the two friends. If anything, if had become so commonplace that the absence of it would have felt strange to them both. It was a delicate balance, with Josef wanting to pull Mick closer to his vampire instincts, and Mick wanting to stay firmly on the other side of that divide. It might very well be said that without that balance, both sides would have suffered.

Neither of them would endorse the other’s viewpoint, but as the decades had shown, they didn’t resent the opposition. It was simply the way they were. As Mick said his farewells, and left the room, Susan lifted her arm. Josef didn’t need to be looking at her to catch the scent of invitation. 

Turning around to look at her, his eyes turned a white-silver around the pupils, strolling over to the upraised wrist, he ran his nostrils over her human skin, and biting down into her human skin. 

Unlike Mick, Josef had no compunction about indulging them. 

Karlie remained completely absorbed in her studying of Susan’s designs, and didn’t so much as beam a suspicious glance towards her husband as he fed. Vampires had a way of making a vampire bite pleasurable, and Josef had had a lot of experience in that arena. However, she also knew that she didn’t have anything to worry about when it came to Josef’s loyalty, especially when it came to freshies. 

As Josef finished, and Susan took a few steps back to Karlie’s side, she closed the portfolio and handed it to the young woman. “Everything seems to be in order, Susan. I’m very impressed. You’ve come a long way in the last few months. Meet me in my office tomorrow. We can start going over the details for the production.”

Susan gave Karlie a smile. “Thank you, Miss Dashwood. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this chance.”

“Of course.” said Karlie, “Someone with your raw talent, I’m just surprised I was able to get ahold of you before anyone else.”

Susan fairly beamed when she heard this, and hurried from the room. Josef, his face having resumed it’s human appearance, only gave a polite, but somewhat cursory farewell to Susan as she left. Having fed, his mind was already settling back to the issue which had been obsessing him for the last few days. 

He had already started playback on the BuzzWire report which had hit the evening before. “How many times are you going to watch that report?” Karlie asked, in exasperation, “You realize that the more you watch it, the more views it has, thereby driving up the popularity of the story in the first place?”

“I’m morbidly curious. I want to know why this reporter immediately went for vampire”

“It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that there were two bite marks on the victim’s neck. That is how we vampires are typically portrayed as killing our victims.”

“Right, and then after we kill them, we dress them in elaborate costumes and dump them right in the middle of a Los Angeles fountain. Care to explain that to me?”

Karlie rolled her eyes, and sat down beside Josef. “Or maybe this person happens to have a very good imagination and saw this as a way to create a good story. After all, she does work for BuzzWirel. News outlets like that are always going to go for the most sensational headlines they possibly can.”

“Beth Turner.” said Josef, pausing the report on an image of the blond haired, blue eyed woman who had first broken the story over the airwaves of the murder. “I’ll have to keep an eye on her. If she gets too close to the truth, I might have to take a few steps to silence her.”

“Josef.” Karlie admonished, “Isn’t that a bit of an overreaction to this situation? I’m sure that even she doesn’t believe it.

“I wasn’t suggesting that I should kill her, right away, anyway. If it comes to that, I was actually going to try talking to her first. I can be reasonable sometimes.”

“Sometimes here meaning rarely.” Karlie said, “But, for right now, I think we’re done with this.” She turned off the report, and cut off Josef’s inevitable objections. “Mick is already on the case. He’ll be sure to tell you if he finds anything. And if I could remind you, you’ve barely shown me any attention at all since you heard about this.” 

Josef looked over at Karlie and smiled. “What poor manners on my part. Whatever can I do to make it up to you?”

Karlie put her arms around Josef, who responded by pulling her closer to him. “I’ve got a few suggestions, but they would best be explained in private.”

Josef leaned in, and kissed her. What started as a simple gesture of affection quickly became more than a little deeper. They didn’t need an excuse to remember how lucky they were to be together. They celebrated it every day. 

“Now, I do like the sound of that, sweetheart.” said Josef, as he took her hand and led her out of the living room. 


	2. I:II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you are a vampire, even the memories of decades past can still be as vivid as the moment when they were first lived. For Josef, the moment that changed his existence forever was the moment he first saw Sara Whitley standing on a train platform in 1955. For the woman who would become Karlie Dashwood in the ensuing decades, it was seeing Josef's smile when she first spoke to him. 
> 
> Whatever their memories might have been, that first meeting would set them on a dangerous journey, one which would ultimately lead them to each other at every twist and turn.

I:II

_New York, 1955_

The first time Sara Whitley met the man she knew initially as Charles Fitzgerald, she was watching the train schedules at Grand Central Station. It was the moment that always stood out for her in the decades afterward as the moment that separated her existence as a human, and sent her down the path of becoming a vampire. 

Of course, she hadn’t known that Charles was a vampire. She knew him by his reputation as a successful, albeit ruthless stock broker in New York. Until that day, she had believed him to be no different than any other rich young man of her acquaintance. 

All that had changed the moment she had met him in person. They really shouldn’t have met at all. The station seemed even more crowded than usual, and there were many bodies jostling and pushing against each other. Yet, somehow, through mere accident or the workings of fate, they ended up waiting on the exact same platform, waiting for two different trains that were less than five minutes apart.

She didn’t know what had first prompted her to speak to him. It might have been simply because he was quite handsome, and the way he smiled at her made her heart start racing. In all her 21 years, she couldn’t remember anyone else ever looking at her as though she were the only woman in the room. It’s not unheard of for a woman to pay attention to a man in those circumstances. 

He might have been the first to smile, but he seemed slightly more reluctant to speak first. That was her contribution to the encounter. She had gotten the impression that if she didn’t say something, he would slip back into the crowd once his nerve failed him. She hadn’t wanted him to leave. She had said the first thing that came into her head, and asked him if he had a light for the cigarette she had been idly rolling between her fingers. 

In hindsight, it probably hadn’t even been the cleverest thing to say. In fact, she had never meant to light the cigarette at all, but it had been an excuse. Still, despite whatever her intentions might have been or the lack of originality in her question, it yielded the result she had wanted. He had answered in the affirmative, and had come right up to her face to light her cigarette. He had been much closer than was necessary, and lingered in that space longer than he should have. 

He had been smelling her. It was her scent which had drawn him to her in the first place. Again, it shouldn’t have happened. Vampires may have had heightened senses, but for one as old as Josef, it was relatively easy to block out the surface distractions which came from the mortals around him. Heartbeats, scents, appearance, none of it really aroused his attention, unless he was hunting. 

Yet, Sara’s scent had surrounded him as he had been passing through the train station. He had stopped dead in his tracks, gripped by an all consuming desire to find the source of that scent. Years later, he had likened her scent to an aroma he had long forgotten, something that went to the deepest part of his psyche, awakening an instinct he had never known he needed to survive. He had needed to find her, even if he had never thought about such a thing before. 

He hadn’t been looking for it. He hadn’t wanted something so different or dangerous to be thrown into an easy, care-free immortal existence. But, the moment he had looked into Sara Whitley’s deep brown eyes and saw that gentle smile which seemed to hide a determined spark, he had been utterly lost to her. 

Neither of them really remembered what they said to each other in those first few minutes. A great deal of it was pointless small talk. Somehow, Sara found herself admitting that the sole reason she smoked was to get under her father’s skin. She loved John Whitley dearly, but the goals which they had for her future were completely different, and at the time, she was becoming more and more aware of just how difficult it was to live up to his expectations. She didn’t say as much to Josef on that first meeting, but she got the feeling that he understood. Even more extraordinary was the fact that he didn’t seem to judge her for it. 

Josef knew of John Whitley, though only formally. Charles Fitzgerald was a name that was only invited because to do otherwise would have been considered a slight. Yet, Josef was perfectly aware that Whitley didn’t entirely approve of him. He considered Fitzgerald to be an upstart, a billionaire rake without scruples, who delighted in overturning the traditions Whitley himself held so dear. 

Till that moment, Josef wouldn’t have denied any of that. The irony wasn’t lost on him that it was Whitley’s daughter who would ultimately change his outlook on life. 

They had both known what was happening between them which was out of the ordinary. Sara wouldn’t have given up her mortal life to become a vampire after that first meeting, even if Josef had done something uncharacteristically impulsive and offered it to her. Her attraction to Charles Fitzgerald was undeniable, but it would have been just another choice with an uncertain outcome, and at this point in her life, she had too many of those to deal with. On the other hand, it was perhaps no accident that while riding the train to her destination, she had sketched a picture that bore an uncanny resemblance to Charles Fitzgerald, particularly in his smile

For Josef, he had watched her until she had disappeared into the crowd, and had immediately vowed that this would be their only meeting. Sara was something different, something new. In 350 years, those two things had never brought him anything good. The best thing for him to do was forget that she even existed, and go about his life as he had before. However, he found that was a difficult resolve to hold to when her scent lingered continually at the back of his mind. 

Perhaps, they didn’t intend or plan to meet again. Yet, even accidents of fate can intrude upon the plans of eternity. Some people are simply meant to find each other, even if it took over three centuries for them to meet in the first place. 

The choices which both mortal and vampire would have to make would soon become apparent as their connection grew stronger and deeper. In that moment, when the two of them met on that train platform for little more than 15 minutes, it was merely the beginning of a journey that would forever change them both. 

And when Mick St. John visited them on the evening when a murdered co-ed brought into question the existence of vampires, it was a journey that was still ongoing. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, this is more of a placeholder chapter until I get something out a bit more regularly. There will be more flashbacks to the previous decades in Josef and Sara's relationship. They will not be in chronological order, but they should be easy enough to follow. Basically, we will be learning just why it is that Sara chose to become a vampire, and how that involved making some dangerous enemies along the way. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this somewhat shorter chapter. I want to give a special shot out to   
Lokis_Minion_Gurl, who actually reminded that this story was still around thanks to her review. I look forward to revisiting this amazing series once again.


	3. I:iii

I:iii

It had been a few days since Mick had rescued Beth. He hadn’t heard from her since, a state of affairs he was trying to not let bother him. It was for the best, he tried to tell himself, as he made his way home from a run to the morgue to see Guermillo about a restock. Beth had a boyfriend, a very well qualified boyfriend, from the brief research that Mick had done. He had no place in the story of her life, and that was exactly the way it should be. 

He tried to tell himself that he didn’t want anything more than to know that she was safe. She had suffered enough because of vampires like him. He had been telling himself the same lie for so long there were days when he was almost able to make himself believe it. However, it was difficult with the memory of Beth so fresh in his mind to deceive himself. 

These were his thoughts when he opened the door to his apartment, only to find that Karlie was sitting on his couch, chatting with someone on her phone in what sounded like French. She acknowledged Mick’s entrance with a smile, though her conversation didn’t skip a beat. She hung up a few moments later, and turned her attention to Mick. 

“Karlie, this is an unexpected surprise,” said Mick. 

“Why is it when Josef breaks into your apartment he gets a scolding, but when I do it, you always seem so pleased to see me?” Karlie asked, as she got up from the sofa to come over to Mick in the kitchen. 

“Maybe it’s just because I like you better.” said Mick, “Or maybe because you don’t drink my stock without asking permission. The other day when I came in here, Josef was drinking from my last bag of AB-.”

Karlie raised an eyebrow. “Really? He doesn’t normally go with your dietary choice.”

“I believe his exact description was non-fat, soy vegan blood. Still wouldn’t admit that he liked it, as I offered to take it from him.”

“Well, I like to think that I have a bit more self-control than my husband does. Besides, I already had a bite at the office before I came over.”

“And why, may I ask, did you decide to grace me with your presence this evening?” Mick asked, as he began to put the blood he had gotten from the morgue into the freezer compartment behind his kitchen shelves. 

“I thought I should break the news to you personally, so that you would have a bit of time to process it.” Karlie leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. “The news will be live in the morning that a certain Christian Ellis, former professor of ancient mythology at UCLA was tragically killed in a car crash this afternoon. It appeared to be a hit and run, though the other driver was nowhere to be found.”

Mick froze when he heard this, his body tightening in response to the news. “You know, I had hoped it wouldn’t come to that.”

“Oh come now, you were investigating Ellis. You can hardly tell me that you’re sorry the scumbag who was cheating on his wife and seducing college students under the guise of a vampire’s spell is gone now.”

“No, of course not. Ellis was hardly a saint, but he wasn’t responsible for the murders of those two girls. I’m certain that given the scandal he was facing at the University regarding those same seductions, he would have been discredited and lost his entire career. Wouldn’t that have been enough?”

“Maybe, but then again, you’re the one who vamped out and threw him halfway across a room, so you can hardly get angry at Josef for doing what was necessary, can you?”

Mick closed his eyes and groaned. “Okay, you’re right. I forgot about that. I suppose that he started asking the right questions to the wrong people.”

Karlie nodded. “He was getting a bit too close and Josef gave the order. Some people aren’t able to handle the idea of immortality, which Ellis no doubt would have jumped at the chance to acquire. Don’t worry, his widow will be more than well compensated.”

Mick sighed and poured himself an extra large helping of blood. It was true, he didn’t like it when there was collateral, human damage involved. He liked it even less when he had been more or less responsible for it. He wasn’t as cold as Josef, who could order someone’s death without so much as batting an eye. On the other hand, him not liking it could do nothing to reverse the fact that it was necessary. Humans like Ellis and his obsession with things beyond his ability to comprehend were the very reason why vampires needed to be kept a secret from the world at large. 

Karlie was right: immortality wasn’t something to be pursued. Sometimes it could be given; in his case, it had been forced. But it should never have been a life goal. 

Karlie watched him closely, as he took a large gulp of the blood. “Are you all right? You’re not going to brood about this, are you?”

“No, I won’t. Like you said, he was a scumbag.” said Mick, “I’ll just try to be a little more careful next time.”

“You wouldn’t have needed to worry about it if you weren’t trying to protect your reporter friend, Beth Turner.” Karlie said, her voice deceptively casual, “Tell me, Mick, did you think that sooner or later I wouldn’t pick up on the fact that you’re hanging out with the human girl you saved over 23 years ago?”

Mick, completely caught off guard, almost dropped the blood he had been drinking. He whirled around and demanded, “How did you know about that?”

“Mick, this isn’t the 1950’s. It’s very easy to follow a trail if you know what to look for, even if I’m not a professional like you. You happened to mention to Josef that the reporter you’ve been working with-”

“I haven’t been working for her. It was a coincidence.” Mick interjected. 

“Of course, it was. Whatever you say.” said Karlie, though it seemed as though she didn’t believe Mick at all, “But, you still saved Beth Turner’s life when she was a child, from your ex-wife. Are you sure that doesn’t strike you as a bit worrisome given the events of the last few days?”

“Since when did you become as paranoid as Josef?” Mick inquired, doing his best to hide his irritation. 

“For the record, Josef doesn’t know I’m here. I believe he was waiting to see how this case spun out for you before he took any action against Miss Turner.” 

The idea that Josef might do anything to harm Beth based on his stupid ideas of secrecy immediately aroused a rather strong reaction in Mick, stronger than he was expecting or would have liked to admit. “Josef’s not going to do anything to her? He can’t. Beth doesn’t know that the vampires are real, she was just trying to generate a story. The real killers have been caught. The secret of the community is safe.”

“Mick, calm down.” said Karlie, “For heaven’s sake, you know how Josef works. He doesn’t kill people unless he has a very good reason, and he doesn’t have a good reason to go after a reporter from an on-line gossip network, not now that things have calmed down.”

“If we can agree that there’s no reason for it, then why are you still interested in her?”

“It’s not her I’m interested in, Mick. It’s you.” She stepped around the island, coming to stand in front of her, her dark eyes looking him up and down with an unnerving amount of insight. “You’ve always had an interest in Miss Turner. Don’t think that Josef and I haven’t noticed it, I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a file on her somewhere that kept track of her progress through the years.”

Mick turned back to the cabinet to put the blood back in the hidden freezer compartment. Karlie always seemed to pick up on when he was lying. She was too damned perceptive, to use Josef’s words. He normally didn’t mind that, because he normally felt he didn’t have a lot to hide. But right now, he didn’t want her to know just how much he had entangled himself in just a few short days. Beth’s scent was starting to get under his skin. He kept catching whiffs of it no matter where he went. He would hear echoes of her heartbeat when he fell asleep in his freezer at night, and when he woke up. 

He didn’t want to think about what the implications of those cracks in his armor might be. To expose them to Karlie or Josef would only make things more confusing. “She nearly died because of me.” He said, as he turned back to Karlie, “She was an innocent girl that got dragged into my problems with Coraline through no fault of her own. I owed it to her to make sure that nothing else got in the way of her life. I only kept an eye on her from the sidelines, and for the past two years, I haven’t really been a part of it. It wasn’t until this case came up that I’ve spoken with her directly, and I intend to make sure that it stays that way.” 

There were a few moments of silence, before Mick finally asked, “Are you going to tell Josef about this?” 

“You know I’ll have to, eventually.” said Karlie, “Beth Turner works for an online news tabloid, and judging by the numbers her first real story got her, it’s likely BuzzWire will start putting her forward more and more frequently. If she continues running into you, she’ll learn your secret eventually. What do you think will happen then?”

“Beth’s not like that.” Mick said, before he could really think about the way it must have sounded. “I mean, I won’t be seeing her again. Like I said, this was just a coincidence.”

Karlie didn’t seem to believe him. “I can tell you, Mick, I thought the same thing when I met Josef, and well, here I am today. But, I’m not going to let you get hurt, Mick, not again.”

Mick knew that Karlie meant well. She and Josef were the only reason he had been able to rebuild his life after he had cut Coraline out of it. Karlie was especially protective of him, often telling him that he was the closest thing to a brother she had ever had. And though she was younger than him by at least a decade, Mick often found himself considering her to be wiser than he could ever hope to be. “I know that, and I do appreciate it. Just let me try to sort this out on my own before Josef puts his paranoid thoughts onto it.”

Karlie smiled. “Don’t worry. I can handle my husband. I’ve been doing it for the past fifty years. I would advise you to be careful what news services you watch while Josef is here. If he catches you staring longingly at Beth Turner, he might start to get an idea.”

If he had been human, Mick might have blushed at the implication. “On second thought, maybe I need to worry more about your matchmaking than Josef’s meddling.”

Karlie gave him a look of perfect innocence. “Why, Mick, when have I ever tried to do such a thing to you?”

“There was that time back in the 70’s, remember?”

She held up her hands in surrender. “Fine, fine. On that note, I think I’ll leave before you can remind me of anymore of my abject failures.” She was heading to the door of Mick’s apartment, before she turned and looked back at him once again, her expression more serious than before. “Mick, just because I want you to be cautious doesn’t mean that I want you to hole up here in this apartment for the rest of your existence. You may not think you deserve to be happy. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want it.”

With that, she turned and left the room, her words lingering in Mick’s mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Keep staying safe and creative. 
> 
> Next chapter: a threat from Mick's detective past is coming back to hunt him. For Karlie and Josef, the threats of their own past still carry deep scars. It turns out that Karlie first discovered Josef's identity as a vampire from one of his deadliest enemies.


	4. II:i

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of the Past
> 
> When it comes to contact between the mortal and immortal worlds, the results often swing between two extremes: fascination or destruction. A human enemy that Mick helped put behind bars is now free, and he wants revenge. For Karlie, the reaction was somewhat different when she first came to discover that the man she was attracted to was a vampire. Of course, such a discovery came at a cost. Often to ally with a vampire, one creates an enemy of those who would hunt them. 

I

Mick St. John was in a foul mood. Even Karlie was able to pick up on it the moment she and Josef arrived at his apartment. Like most visits, this one was unannounced, but unlike most visits, Mick merely threw them an annoyed look for two seconds before returning to watching the news report on TV, fuming and bristling all the while. 

“Have you seen this?” He said, making no attempt to hide his disgust. “They’re letting him out.”

This was hardly a surprising reaction to the two of them. The freeing of Lee Jay Spaulding had been all over the news recently, thanks in no small part to a book about the supposed wife murderer which would soon be hitting the shelves. Spaulding had been accused of murdering two of his previous wives, one of the charges being strong enough to stick and put him in jail for twenty-five years. 

Unfortunately, he had always denied the accusations, and like most serial killers, he had managed to use his charm and innocent appearance to make someone talented actually listen to him. In this case, the author of the book itself, who, Karlie noted with interest, was being interviewed by none other than Beth Turner. 

Mick knew the truth, however. He had been on the front lines of the case, having worked it with the police back in the day. He knew for a fact that Spaulding was not only guilty, but a monster.

“Yeah, I knew you’d be on the war path.” said Josef, as he came over, brandishing a bottle of blood. “So, I brought you some fresh blood.”

“And Josef thought it might help if you had a sympathetic ear to chew on.” said Karlie. 

“Never underestimate the stupidity of what humans will do.” Mick growled in a rare show of temper against the vagaries of human society. 

“Hey, cut them some slack.” said Josef, in a correspondingly rare show of sympathy for the human condition. “I believe you used to be one before you became a vampire.”

“As were we all.” Karlie pointed out.

Josef handed one of the glasses of blood to Mick, turning his attention to the image of Beth interviewing Julia Stevens, the author of the book on Lee Jay Spaulding. “Oh, is that your friend, the blond?” said Josef, gesturing at Beth in evident curiosity. “I’d like to meet her someday.”

Almost immediately, he was met with a glare from Mick and a raised eyebrow from Karlie. “What?” Josef said to Mick first, before seeing his wife’s reaction, “What? I’m just saying.”

Karlie rolled her eyes. “You're lucky I trust you so much. Otherwise I might be tempted to keep you on a leash.”

Miss Stevens, meanwhile, was waxing poetic on the paragon of virtue that was Lee Jay Spaulding, claiming how well she had gotten to know him during her years of researching the book. Not only did she claim that he was innocent, but he also held absolutely no grudge towards the men who had apparently stolen a quarter century of his life-time from him. 

Mick turned away in frustration, scoffing angrily and muttering a few curses under his breath. Josef, on the other hand, appeared to be greatly amused by what he was hearing. “Please, I should have her write a book about me, to make me sound all innocent and suffering.” 

“It would be the greatest work of fiction of the year.” commented Karlie, sarcastically. “Look at the way her face lights up whenever she talks about him. If I were in the room right now with her, I’m sure I could smell more than a few interesting details.”

“She’s involved with him.” Mick said, bluntly.

“Oh, you think?” said Josef, “Look, humans don’t know how to properly deal with their bad guys. What else is new? And you want to take matters into your own hands. Now come on, I got a few hours to kill .”

“I cleared my calendar just in case.” Karlie agreed, “It’s been awhile since I’ve done some hunting.”

The offer was only half joking. Both Josef and Karlie were more than willing to help Mick with making Lee Jay Spaulding disappear permanently from the face of the earth. However, Mick didn’t seem to share their enthusiasm for this plan. His expression was dark and stormy, and it seemed to take all his self-discipline to not crush the glass he was holding. They had both seen this before, and it was never good. Mick seemed to carry a never-ending stream of guilt about his past sins, and he never missed an opportunity to dwell upon them with almost morbid preoccupation.

Josef was a little worried that Mick might go off into one of his existential crisis modes. “Look, otherwise, just let the guilt go, okay?” He said, gently. “Whatever this guy Lee Jay did, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes, it is.” said Mick, his voice harsh, “You weren’t there. A woman’s dead because of me.”

Both Karlie and Josef looked at Mick in confusion. “What are you talking about, Mick?” Karlie asked. “All you ever mentioned was that you were helping the police investigate Spaulding when his second wife turned up dead. How could anything that he did before that be your fault?”

“I remember you had to skip out on my stag party early, and ended up missing being the best man at my wedding.” said Josef. 

“You two were already married in 1983.” Mick pointed out. 

“That’s not the point, it’s the principle of the thing.” Josef said, “Don’t think I haven’t forgotten about that, or the fact that you owe me for next time. But, not to get too lost in the past, what’s got you so depressed about this? You’re acting as though this whole thing is your personal fault.”

Mick sighed heavily. He clicked off the TV and sat down in the chair opposite them. He then proceeded to tell them the truth about his involvement with Lee Jay Spaulding, and how his ignorance had not only left a woman in his care dead, but also with his secret exposed to a homicidal murderer. 

“I wasn’t just helping the police investigate Lee Jay. I had a personal connection to his victim. She was my client.” 

Karlie and Josef hadn’t heard this part of the story. They immediately seemed to take a greater level of interest. “She was Lee Jay’s second wife, and she hired me to protect her after he became abusive. I handled it completely the wrong way. I thought he was just a run of the mill jerk, someone who I would easily be able to intimidate to stay away from her.” He shook his head, angry at himself for being so easily fooled. “It turns out, he was a lot cleverer and violent than I even gave him credit for. The reason I left that stag party of yours’ early was because they found her dead body. Lee Jay had staged it to look like a suicide.”

“I take it, letting the police take care of it at that point wasn’t an option?” said Karlie.

“No, when I finally caught up with Lee Jay, I was going to kill him. No question. He was a dead man. But I messed up. I vamped out in front of him, and started draining him. But this cop comes out of nowhere, and I didn’t get to finish the job.” Mick paused, admitting the one thing which he knew was going to send Josef over the edge of panic. “Lee Jay knows what I am.”

Karlie and Josef were both staring at Mick, their expressions sober and worried. Karlie could already see Josef’s mind starting to race, all the very worst outcomes being considered and any back up plans put into place in order to keep them from becoming a reality. Lee Jay Spaulding was a serial killer who had been stewing on a grudge for twenty-five years against Mick. Not only that, but he knew that Mick was a vampire. He wouldn’t have been idle, nor would he waste time in coming after him. And if Lee Jay got bored after killing Mick, the chances were very good he would set his sights on others in the community if he could find them. 

“Boy, you really messed up.” said Josef, agreeing with Mick’s earlier statement, “You absolutely better waste this guy.” 

For some reason, Mick immediately shot down the suggestion. “It’s not that simple.”

“Yeah, it is.” said Josef, with the hardness of someone who wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone he perceived as a threat. “Now what if he decides to go all Van Helsing and come after you?”

Mick turned away for several seconds, trying to get himself under control. “Josef, this is my problem. Let me deal with it in my own way, please.”

Josef looked at Mick with an appraising gaze, before finally yielding. “Fine, you want to do things the hard way, knock yourself out. But, don’t fool yourself, Mick. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this Spaulding guy. If I get so much as a hint that he’s set his sights on another vampire besides you, I’ll give the order to have him eliminated, regardless of what you want. If it comes to that, I don’t want you complaining. Do you understand?”

Mick reluctantly nodded. He knew that he was pushing Josef’s patience by even insisting that he should be able to take care of this himself. Josef was undoubtedly paranoid, but it was that same extreme sense of caution which had kept Los Angeles stable for the decades he had taken it under his rule. That was the duty of an Elder, after all: to keep the secret of vampirism hidden, and to destroy any threat that might endanger that secret. 

For his own part, Josef could see that Mick got the message. “Good luck, Mick. I get the feeling you're going to need it.” He downed the rest of the blood and got to his feet. “Keep the blood. Happy hunting.”

“Bring Beth Turner around some time, I would like to meet her.” said Karlie, casually as she followed Josef to the door of the apartment. Mick only had time to give her an annoyed look before the two of them left. 

Josef was stiff and silent as they rode down the elevator and walked to the Ferrari. It wasn’t until they were away from the apartment and on the highway that Karlie finally ventured to say anything. “I admire your sense of self control for not calling Mick an idiot back there.”

Josef growled something under his breath. “Mick’s going to get himself killed one of these days playing the noble, white knight. He has no idea what he could be getting himself into.”

“I’m inclined to agree with you, Josef. Mick’s sense of justice is all very noble, but this is treading a very dangerous line.”

“You know, I sometimes miss the days when he was more apt to listen to me about things like this.”

“What makes it worse is that you were the one who encouraged him to think independently.” said Karlie, “We both know that turning back the clock to that time wouldn’t be a good thing for Mick. Let’s just hope he sees sense before things get out of hand.”

Josef acknowledged this with a huff, clearly not believing that Mick would do any such thing. “Did you happen to see how he was looking at that blond reporter, Beth Turner? She’s the same one who broke that so-called ‘vampire murder’ story a few weeks ago. I would have thought he would be taking steps to forget about her.”

Karlie studiously avoided making any sort of comment. She hadn’t yet told Josef just how deeply intertwined Mick really was with Beth Turner. Just as she had predicted, Mick hadn’t been able to completely ignore her, and Josef was already beginning to pick up on it. She wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret for very long. 

“Who knows? Perhaps he’s looking to branch out.” She said, only half joking. 

“Oh, Mick St. John going out with a human. There’s something I would love to see.”

“Don’t act so dismissive. If I recall rightly, you went out with me several times while I was still human, and that turned out alright didn’t it?”

“Of course it did. Let’s face it, though, Karlie, Mick would never get involved with a human. He’s still too wrapped up in his own tragic angst to see what would be good for him.”

“So, you admit that Mick going out with a human could actually be good for him. My my, you are becoming sentimental in your old age, aren’t you?”

Josef heaved an annoyed sigh. “Remind me again why I put up with you?”

“Because you adore me.” said Karlie, with a smirk, “And don’t pretend like you don’t.”

“All right, you got me there. I guess I’ll have to think of a better excuse.”

There really wasn’t more conversation beyond this. Josef was still too worried about Mick and a potentially psychotic vampire stalker on the loose in his city. Karlie, however, found herself lost in thoughts of a much different nature. It was easy to joke in hindsight regarding the courtship she and Josef had shared. However, experiencing it in the moment had been a far different story. Back then, Karlie had still been a young woman by the name of Sara Whitley who hadn’t been able to keep Charles Fitzgerald out of her mind. The moment she had learned his true nature, she had been faced with a dangerous choice, one which would change the entire course of her future. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for taking the time to read. Continue to stay healthy and creative. 
> 
> Episode I:ii - In the year 1955, Sara Whitley has been unable to deny her attraction Charles Fitzgerald. But, there was another man who was vying for her affection. As it turns out, Henry Ellison has his own secret, one which makes hi as deadly as the vampire Sara has been unconsciously falling in love with.

**Author's Note:**

> Moonlight is one of my all time favorite shows. This is a repost from one of my original fan fiction stories, but I really wanted to give this story new life, infuse it with new blood, if you will pardon the pun. There will be a little bit of jumping back and fourth between time frames, because what's the point of doing a vampire story if you can't play with the time line a little bit. 
> 
> Enjoy this new journey through the moonlight.


End file.
